Bata enter real estate development

Published: 12 January, 2005

Bata India Ltd, the country's largest footwear manufacturers, are making a foray into real estate development. The company have entered a joint venture with the Calcutta Metropolitan Group and the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority and plan to start up operations by developing the excess land at their factory at Batanagar near Kolkata.

They are investigating the development of about 260 acres of excess land at Batanagar, their biggest factory in the country. The options under consideration include setting up an integrated township with housing and commercial facilities, and also setting up an industrial park. Depending on how this venture works out, they may well decide to take on more real estate projects in the future.

The Batanagar factory turns out around 25 million pairs of shoes annually. The plant was set up on land belonging to the Kolkata Port Trust, which has been leased out to Bata India Ltd for a 99-year period. The Indian arm of the Toronto-based Bata Shoe Organisation, Bata India have five footwear manufacturing units across India with a combined capacity of 40 million pairs annually. To turn around the fortunes of their core footwear production, the company have introduced a scheme to streamline operations and wipe out their Rs40-crore accumulated losses over the next two years.

Source: The Hindu Business Line

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